How this $40 pencil nearly went extinct

This video from Wall Street Journal is a fantastic short doc about the history of the Blackwing 602 pencil and how it nearly went extinct.

I absolutely love docs like this. It’s short, informative, niche, and well edited. Sign me up for any and all other documentaries like this out there.

A New Addition

I’m elated to share that my daughter, Sloane, was born 13 days ago. She’s a happy and healthy girl born 3 weeks early. She has beautiful blue eyes, a fierce set of lungs, and loves being a night owl.

As a new parent there’s lots of learning being had, sleep being lost, and mistakes being made. But that’s parenting, at least that’s what I’ve been told by everyone who has shared their experiences.

It’s been incredibly emotionally and physically draining these past couple of weeks but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

The Future of Podcasting

I have been thinking a lot about the podcasting industry lately. The main thread is how even though there were massive layoffs in the podcasting industry, ad revenue and listenership continues to grow. It seems the podcasting industry is set to have the same fate as the newspaper and television industries, which had to “do more with less.”

Just last year, Spotify laid off large portions of its staff, including the podcasting department, on three separate occasions. Other companies that laid off staff include Pushkin Industries, which let go 30% of its staff, WNYC, which also laid off staff in the podcasting division, and podcasting and radio powerhouse NPR did the same.

Now, the podcasting industry isn’t totally destitute. Just this past month, Joe Rogan signed a new multi-year deal totaling $250 million with Spotify, and the comedy podcast SmartLess with hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Shawn Hayes signed a $100 million deal with SiriusXM.

Here’s the kicker: neither of these huge signings are platform exclusive. Spotify is no longer walling their podcasting garden. Instead, they have had a change of heart and are opening up their podcasts to any player you want. That said, there are podcasts that come out on their respective app first and then it is available to the rest of the public after a period of time. Still, it is a win for podcasting and a win for RSS.

Amanda Silberling wrote something for TechCrunch about the decision for these companies to minimize workers to maximize value; and it has stuck with me for some time.

This “maximum growth” mindset has poisoned venture-backed digital media companies like Buzzfeed, which descended from a shining star to an IPO embarrassment. The “middle class” of podcasters can’t rely on Spotify, and other media workers can’t rely on failing media conglomerates like G/O Media and Vice anymore. Over the last few years, worker-owned media outlets like Defector, Aftermath and 404 Media have begun cropping up, often founded and staffed by journalists who had been repeatedly laid off from mismanaged media companies. Now the podcasting industry is facing the same reckoning as Spotify’s losses prove that growth can’t take priority over sustainability. Already, podcast studio Maximum Fun has adopted a worker-ownership co-op model, and as podcasters continue to lose trust in big corporations like Spotify, we’ll see this trend continue.

For me, this is where I have been spending most of my focus lately. The independent podcasts that don’t have millions of dollars behind them. These are also the major majority of podcasts on the internet. The podcasting ocean has several big whales, but swimming amongst them are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of minnows.

Silberling already mentioned Maximum Fun, but another worker-owned podcast that’s on my radar is Never Post, “a podcast about and for the internet.”

Mike Rugnetta, the host of Never Post, said it best in their trailer episode.

I love the internet as a place, a piece of technology and also, conceptually as a set of protocols that … link stuff. That connect things; massive numbers of things in surprising, illuminating, confounding, and yes occasionally ENRAGING ways. The human experience is vast and so I guess of course it is vast also … online. I wanted to make a show about all of this; I have for a long time: a show not just about the internet specifically, but for the internet – demonstrating and sharing a love of it through its complexity, and all the ways it puts vastly different things in close proximity. Taking that idea, and making it a piece of media – that does the very thing it is about.

This is where I hope the future of podcasting goes, something that is more sustainable, independent, and passionate. I know this can easily be read as me dunking on major podcasting studios and platforms for being big spenders, but I understand their side of things. If you want lots of revenue it is better to manage a few big whales than thousands of minnows. Still, I hope the minnows win out as everyone continues to cast their own net in the podcasting seas.

Never Post Episode 0 Independent Media Roundtable

To kick things off, we had a roundtable conversation with a trio of makers and thinkers, all of whom are creating independent media. They are Gita Jackson (Aftermath), Alex Sujong Laughlin (Defector Media), and Rusty Foster (Today in Tabs).

We wanted to talk with Gita, Alex and Rusty about the current state of media, and why each of them has decided to strike out beyond the big, legacy media organizations and create something new.

Never Post is a brand new podcast but this first episode as well as their official first episode has made it part of the conversation for one of my favorite active podcasts.

Hearing these guests, as well as host Mike Rugnetta, share their experiences in navigating today’s internet to make something that is sustainable and also respectful for their audience provides a window into something I hope others do.

Micro.blog Adds Threads and Twitter Cross-Posting

Manton Reece:

Today we’ve added a brand new option for manual cross-posting from Micro.blog to other services, including Threads. This new option is great for services that don’t yet have an open API, so Micro.blog can’t automatically post to them, or for when you want to edit and preview your posts before sending them elsewhere.

This brings support for Threads for the first time. When choosing Threads, Micro.blog will reformat your blog post as plain text, truncate it if necessary, and copy the text over to Threads where you can finish sending the post. You will need to be signed into Threads in your web browser, or in the Threads app on mobile.

Twitter X is also now back in a more limited form with this new cross-posting option. We still can’t automatically post to Twitter X because of their API changes.

This feature doesn’t work exactly like Micro.blog’s existing, automatic cross-posting, so be sure to check out the help page for the details. In future updates, I expect that the two different ways of cross-posting will look more similar.

I love the simplicity of this workflow and have long wanted to have Micro.blog offer Threads support in some capacity while we wait for full fediverse integration.

More Birchtree

Matt Birchler:

More Birchtree is a way to get more Birchtree writing, ad-free browsing, and the fuzzy feeling of supporting indie writing. Member posts will be more personal pieces, as well as more raw feelings about the tech news of the day before I’m ready to share with a wider audience. I’ll also have little sections shouting out other creators I love, apps I’m loving, and more.

I’d like to do more (ha) with it down the road, but I’m not going to commit to anything else now until I know I can keep up with what I’ve said already.

If you like my work, a large part of that is indirectly because of Matt Birchler. He’s been a guiding light for me and what I want to do with my work, writing, and website.

He has been writing on the internet, for free, for 14 years. Not only does he have one of the best eyes for design, he also has an authentic voice that hasn’t deviated. While I am excited for the extra bit of content he will be making for subscribers, I am just happy to support someone’s work I cherish online.

I think he more than deserves my $5 a month. You can subscribe too if you feel the same and can afford the added subscription.

CNN Plans to be Everywhere Your Phone is

Alex Cranz writing for The Verge:

a memo from CNN CEO Mark Thompson outlines some of the early plans to try to save CNN from cable — and grow its presence on the phone.

As noted by The Wall Street Journal, which has seen the memo, the first step will be combining CNN’s myriad news-gathering groups into one team. CNN, in its current structure, has a TV-focused operation, a streaming one, and a digital one. They communicate, but they’re separate organizations with separate leaders and goals. Thompson will combine them and then create a new organization focused on finding new ways to grow CNN’s audience.

Beyond a major restructuring of CNN, Thompson is also working on the problem of how to get people to use CNN on their phones. “For many people today, the smartphone is a more important device for consuming news than the TV,” he wrote in the memo. “Their news prime time is in the morning, not the evening.”

Thompson and CNN don’t yet have a solution for getting people to go to CNN on mobile devices. “I don’t think anyone’s yet cracked the code on how that translates, truly translates to a great news experience,” he wrote.

I don’t doubt Mark Thompson is the man who could potentially save CNN, after all he did become a trend-setter when he was at The New York Times directing the creation of some of the best apps any media publication has offered both past and present.

That being said, I think getting CNN to everyone is only half of the problem. the other half, the much more difficult half, is getting people excited about consuming CNN.

I can’t remember the last time I watched CNN willingly. It has always been at an airport, doctor’s office, or at a hotel lobby. The programming at CNN, like all 24-hour news channels, is soul-sucking and numbing with regular consumption. I don’t care how many places I can get my CNN news, it is still the same annoyingly hostile and sensational news it has always been.

The Death of Physical Media

An old college buddy of mine, Adam, who also has been a creative partner for me over the years, created an awesome video essay.

It’s about the end of physical media, what it might hold for the future of media consumption, and how collectors might be dealing with this change. At 12-minutes long, it’s the perfect video to watch while having lunch or taking a break from work.

If I’m being honest, this kind of stuff wrinkles my brain in all the right places. I think Adam hit the nail on the head about why physical media is going away and had some good ideas about where it might live in the future.

One thing that I think isn’t talked about enough though is the extra features and bonus content like deleted scenes, bloopers, director’s commentary, and more. I don’t consume nearly as much of that kind of content anymore because of streaming services. It is because I own Hulu, Paramount+, Disney+, and more subscriptions that I don’t shell out the money for a physical disc. That being said, if I didn’t have that kind of access right at my fingertips I would most likely have bought The Batman on Blu-ray, or lined up to buy Oppenheimer today1.

I remember renting DVDs from Blockbuster and rewatching Clerks with the commentary track on and eating that shit up like it was gospel. I loved hearing what the creators had to say about their work and the things they had to do to make certain shots happen. Hell, even some of the best video essays I have seen use commentary tracks on them.

My hope is that streaming services find a way to offer bonus content like this more frequently. I know that some services do have some of the stuff I mentioned above, but it certainly isn’t guaranteed, which I think is a shame.

My Default Apps

In an attempt to be a part of a really cool idea and trend among listeners of Hemispheric Views and other great bloggers, I decided to list my default apps like so many others have already. Let me know what you think and if you have any apps I should look into!

Mail Client: Gmail / Outlook (work)

Mail Server: Gmail

Notes: Obsidian

To-Do: Todoist

iPhone Photo Shooting: iOS Camera

Photo Management: Apple Photos

Calendar: Apple Calendar

Cloud file storage: Google Drive and iCloud

RSS Service: Inoreader

RSS Client: Reeder

Contacts: Apple contacts

Browser: Safari (iOS) Chrome (Desktop)

Chat: Apple Messages

Shopping Lists: Apple Notes

Budgeting & Personal Finance: Google Sheets

News: RSS, Mastodon, Reddit, Threads

Music: Spotify

Password Management: iCloud

How to fix online media: focus on the true fans

Between the Vice News layoffs, the podcasting industry crumbling, and Jezebel closing its doors it’s safe to say that the media industry is having a bit of a crisis. It’s clear that advertising on sites like Jezebel and large podcasts aren’t cutting it anymore, so what’s the next step? For many, it looks like focusing on the “1000 true fans” rather than trying to make an impact en masse.

Jezebel Shuts Down

On Thursday, November 9th, Jim Spanfeller, CEO of G/O Media, announced that feminist news site Jezebel would be shutting down. In his statement, Spanfeller explained that G/O Media’s “business model and the audiences we serve across our network did not align with Jezebel’s.” Shortly after, Jezebel’s union, Writer Guild of America East, shared that the real reason for this was “strategic and commercial ineptitude.”

The closure of Jezebel also underscores fundamental flaws in the ad-supported media model where concerns about ‘brand safety’ limit monetizing content about the biggest, most important stories of the day

- Writers Guild of America East

After a few weeks of searching for a buyer, G/O Media decided to abandon Jezebel, closing shop instead of continuing investment. 404 Media decided to look further into this and boy does it get bleak for advertising-funded sites like Gizmodo and the rest of G/O Media.

Lauren Tousignant, Jezebel’s interim editor in chief, told 404 Media that Jezebel was told “brand safety,” the fact that advertisers don’t want to be next to the type of content Jezebel was publishing, was “one of the biggest factors” that led G/O to stop publishing the site and lay off its staff. Tousignant said that a couple of weeks ago, the ads sales team asked if it could remove Jezebel’s tagline—“Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth”—from the site.

“They took it off because they’re like, let’s see if this makes a huge difference,” Tousignant said. “So yeah, it was very much the problem here that no one will advertise on Jezebel because we cover sex and abortion. I know taking the tagline off was to see if the algorithm advertising would change. After it was removed one of the editorial directors was like, ‘I’m seeing an ad for J Crew for the first time ever, maybe this will be good.’”

- Jason Koebler and Emanual Maiberg writing for 404 Media

Even now Jezebel’s current tagline is “Politics. Entertainment. Work. Style. Health. With Teeth.” instead of the previous tagline of “Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth.”

Koebler and Maiberg continue to show just how much control advertisers have on what news content gets made today.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the largest companies in the world are colluding to put their thumb on the scales of what types of news is monetized, and which types of news is monetized at lower rates or not not monetized at all. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is listed by the World Economic Forum as one of its “projects” and includes every major marketing agency, as well as brands like Nike, Merck, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, TikTok, Disney, Walmart, Adidas, BP, Shell, Goldman Sachs, Electronic Arts, McDonalds, and more.

In August WFA wrote in a blog post that “the risks are rising for big brands” because of “today’s geo-politics, marked by polarization and its accompanying 24/7 newsreel.” 

“In the wake of the conservative backlash against Bud Light, Nike, Target, and others, we have witnessed unprecedented desire on the part of WFA members to share insights and concerns in private on how to manage risk and reputation,” they wrote. “After all, it only takes one marketer sending a personalized can of beer to a transgender TikToker for all hell to break loose.”

With regards to wanting risk-averse articles and sites on the internet many companies took part in this in 2020. They wanted to be far away from any kind of COVID-19 coverage out of fear of being associated with deadly virus.

John Montgomery, the Chief Marketing Officer for the gigantic brand agency GroupM, which spends billions of dollars on advertising annually, said in July 2020 that initially brands didn’t want to place ads next to stories about COVID-19, and specifically the death tolls from the pandemic. 

“As it happens, it was a largely unwarranted concern,” he said. “Consumers don’t seem to worry too much about brands being next to hard news. In fact, sometimes it’s even better for them.” Montgomery went on to explain that, eventually, “85 percent of our clients were no longer blocking news, or were blocking news in a much more sophisticated way.” Stories specifically about how advertisers eventually came to understand that advertising next to news about Black Lives Matter protests and COVID-19 (after initially blocking it) because people care about it are common in the industry and are used to show that the brand safety industry cares about journalism and the news.

Now, this isn’t meant to be making the point that eventually feminist sites like Jezebel might one day be sought after for advertising. Jezebel could have been catered to brands that put their feminist foot first had G/O Media given a shit. But instead Spanfeller, and the leadership at G/O Media, decided that it was better to simply give a curtain call for JezebeI.

It is easy for me to “Monday quarterback” this entire thing as someone with no stake in the events unfolding. That said, it should have been beyond clear to anyone running sites like Jezebel and Gizmodo that the days of ad-revenue are numbered and that it is instead time to make some changes and focus on other ways to get revenue.

Things like memberships and paid newsletters could have saved Jezebel from being closed down. Having those hardcore readers willing to pay a few bucks a month could have offered G/O Media a new way to afford keeping Jezebel up and running.

There is a huge opportunity for brands to buy ads on websites that have a dedicated readership and cover important issues people care about in an uncompromising way. It should not be difficult for advertisers to understand the value that websites like Jezebel and VICE (which made more drastic cuts to its News division Thursday) bring to their readers. But this requires an ad sales team that can explain to ad agencies and brands that their money is better spent reaching dedicated readers rather than bots and people who accidentally end up on MFA sites. More importantly, it requires the brands buying the advertisements and the ad agencies that represent them to be brave.

- Jason Koebler and Emanual Maiberg writing for 404 Media

Thanks to risk-averse advertisers, sites like Jezebel, which had edginess and personality, have been swiftly sanitized for a softer, brand-friendly touch. Blogs and websites now have to wear kid gloves when tackling important issues if they want to continue to meet brand expectations. No more sex, drugs, or rock and roll for news sites. All this being said, another industry is in a bit of a shrinkage as well.

Podcasting Woes

In a recent Confider newsletter, Lachlan Cartwright shared that Pushkin, the podcast company co-founded by journalist and writer Malcolm Gladwell and journalist Jacob Weisberg, is having some turmoil regarding where the company stands currently. This comes after 30% of Pushkin’s staff was laid off.

According to four people familiar with the situation, Gladwell has grown increasingly frustrated with how Weisberg has run their business, zeroing in on the serial lack of profitability at Pushkin.

Podcasts like Gladwell’s Revisionist History, Michael Lewis' Against the Rules are within the Pushkin Podcast network. In an all-staff meeting within Pushkin, Gladwell took responsibility on behalf of himself and Weisberg stating, “We made mistakes. I think we grew too fast. I think we lost sight of who we are and what we stand for,” he admitted. “I think we got a little blinded by some of the hype and craziness in our industry over the last couple of years. I don’t think we took our financial crisis seriously enough back in January when we had the first round of layoffs and we regret all of that profoundly and sincerely.”

Pushkin isn’t the only podcasting company that is having trouble, Spotify is also in the same boat. Back in June, Spotify laid off 200 people in the podcasting department due to “strategic realignment” and combined podcasting giants Gimlet and Parcast into one entity. On top of that, Spotify effectively walked back their exclusivity in podcasts and started offering their shows on all podcasting apps and platforms.

In both cases I think that the issue was focusing more on growth and reach rather than catering to the smaller group of “true fans.” It’s time to focus less on mass popularity and more on small communities that will stick around no matter what.

Finding your Community

Back in 2008 Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wiredwrote an essay where he shared his idea that all you need is 1000 true fans to be a successful creator. It has since become a mantra for so many content creators on the internet, and I think that there is some truth to the sentiment.

To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.

Here’s how the math works. You need to meet two criteria. First, you have to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, $100 profit from each true fan. That is easier to do in some arts and businesses than others, but it is a good creative challenge in every area because it is always easier and better to give your existing customers more, than it is to find new fans.

- Kevin Kelly

While I know that getting 1000 people to give you $100 in profit each year seems daunting, it is far less Herculean than what tech giants like Spotify or The New York Times need to accomplish to get in the black. Sites like Patreon, Subsctack, beehiiv, and other services have shown that it is indeed possible to make something online and be successful from direct support.

If I’m honest, Substack’s opportunity for me to potentially make money from my creative efforts is a large reason why I continue to come back here time after time. The chance that someone reading might put their money where their mouth is and support my work is exciting. Not just because I get paid doing something I love but also I get to be directly supported from my readers rather than be beholden to advertisers, algorithms, or affiliate links. That direct support effectively ends the song and dance so many online creators have to make to meet criteria to get ad revenue. YouTube is one of the worst places in my opinion when it comes to this.

Many new-age journalists, like that of Andrew Callaghan and Channel 5, have said in the past just how important it is to be independent. In his live show in Detroit, Andrew shared in November of 2022 that one of the reasons that his movie, This Place Rules, was put on shelved for nearly a year because it was more important for A24 to market The Tragedy of Macbeth. Callaghan stated “It is more clear that ever that Channel 5 needs to be independent.” While Channel 5, and Andrew Callaghan specifically, has dealt with allegations and problems outside of being independent it is clear that the only reason he can create the content he does is because of direct support on Patreon.

Along with Patreon and Substack there are other publications that are “worker-owned.” Sites like the aforementioned 404 MediaDefector (a site made by former Deadspin employees), Hell Gate, and the latest addition to the list Aftermath. These sites offer essays, journalism, and content that users can read online and directly support the writers. Aftermath, in there announcement post, said,

These days it’s tough for journalism, especially about games. The past few years have seen mass layoffs and site closures, with remaining writers being asked to do more and more with less and less. The ad-supported model is crumbling, social media is a mess, and the businessmen and private equity firms buying up news outlets don’t care about workers, readers, and quality writing, they only care about profits. The four of us saw our sites closed, ourselves and our colleagues laid off, and our workplaces turned hostile in management’s pursuit of growth at all costs.

The success of worker-owned sites like this depend on many different factors, but they all have the same big decisions to make when it comes to revenue. 404 Media even touched on this in their Jezebel piece.

This broken business model of digital media is why, when we launched 404 Media, we decided to go with a primarily reader-funded subscription model. As we have slowly and cautiously started putting advertisements on our website for non-members in an attempt to diversify our revenue sources, we have been repeatedly demonetized or dinged by Google for publishing articles that are not brand safe (this, on top of already paltry programmatic ad rates).

The online media and news business is changing, there is no question about that. While there is no silver bullet to fix the revenue problems, it seems clear that direct support from the “true fans” could be the path to success.

There may not be any more empires like G/O media, Vice, etc. but this could the a start to many more smaller successful companies that offer a living to journalists and creators.